- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 21 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the method of calculating the cost of civil service time spent on the consultation on the establishment of a coastal and marine national park is the same as that for calculating the cost of answering parliamentary questions and, if not, whether it will explain the methodological differences.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30380 on 21 December 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 21 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the total costs will be of the consultation on the establishment of a coastal and marine national park and whether it will provide a breakdown of these costs, also showing the time that (a) civil servants and (b) others have spent, or will spend, on the consultation process.
Answer
The total estimated cost of thecurrent consultation exercise on proposals to establish Scotland’s firstCoastal and Marine National Park, which seeks views on a number of issues including tencandidate locations, is £220,000. These estimated costs would be chargeable to the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department Programme budget.
Theestimated costs include around £85,000 covering the design and production of a rangeof materials including the consultation document, summary leaflet, DVD, websitematerial and other information as well as distribution costs to an extensive listof individuals and organisations. The remainder includes the estimated costs relatingto the vehicle roadshows that visited all 10 candidate locations to offer communitiesmore information about the proposals as well as a series of meetings with stakeholdersto hear further views on the proposals and also includes the estimated costs ofadditional roadshow visits requested by members of the public and stakeholders.
A breakdown showing time thatcivil servants and others have spent or will spend in supporting the consultationprocess is unavailable.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reform the law relating to the requirement for wind turbines for domestic dwellings to have planning permission and, in particular, whether it will introduce a provision to have the same effect as Planning Policy Statement 22 on renewable energy policies.
Answer
The Executive is strongly committedto increasing energy from microrenewables such as rooftop wind turbines and solarpanels and research was commissioned to consider the scope for extending permitteddevelopment rights to some micro-generation projects. The outcome of the researchshould be known by the end of the year and we will make progress as quickly as possiblethereafter.
Draft Scottish Planning Policy6: Renewable Energy confirms notonly the Executive’s support for local planningpolicies which incorporate microrenewables in new developments but also our intention to introduce a Scottish minimumstandard. The views of the public have been sought on what this standard shouldbe and responses are currently being considered. The intention is to issue a finalisedScottish Planning Policy document by the end of February 2007.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its approved per capita investment in transport has been in each of the last 10 years, broken down by category of transport.
Answer
The total transportexpenditure over the past 10 years (1995 to 2005) has increased significantlyfrom £261 million to £859 million, whilst total population figures for Scotlandhave remained fairly constant around 5 million.
Per Capita investment inTransport has increased from £51.25 per person in 1995 to £168.60 per person in2005.
Overview of TransportSpending per Capita broken into modes of transport
| | 2004-05 | 2003-04 | 2002-03 | 2001-02 | 2000-01 | 1999-00 | 1998-99 | 1997-98 | 1996-97 | 1995-96 |
| | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita | £ per capita |
| Motorways & trunkroad | £64.38 | £58.88 | £48.64 | £30.07 | £32.78 | £32.00 | £30.76 | £33.68 | £39.93 | £44.58 |
| HIAL | £4.12 | £4.73 | £4.75 | £3.76 | £2.96 | £2.37 | £1.18 | £1.38 | £1.38 | £2.16 |
| Caledonian | £6.48 | £5.51 | £5.14 | £4.35 | £4.34 | £4.15 | £4.53 | £3.55 | £1.97 | £2.16 |
| British Waterways | £2.55 | £2.56 | £2.77 | £1.78 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Rail | £35.33 | £37.02 | £22.94 | £15.63 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Northern Isle ferries | £5.69 | £4.53 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| BSOG | £10.99 | £10.44 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| FFG | £0.39 | £0.59 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| ITF | £22.57 | £13.98 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Other | £16.09 | £13.98 | £29.26 | £21.17 | £14.81 | £7.11 | £3.55 | £2.76 | £2.36 | £2.36 |
| TOTAL Spend per Capita | £168.60 | £152.21 | £113.50 | £76.76 | £54.90 | £45.63 | £40.02 | £41.36 | £45.64 | £51.25 |
| Total Transport Expenditure | £859 million | £773 million | £574 million | £388 million | £278 million | £231 million | £203 million | £210 million | £232 million | £261 million |
| Population In milllions | 5.0948 | 5.0784 | 5.0574 | 5.0548 | 5.0642 | 5.0629 | 5.0719 | 5.0770 | 5.0833 | 5.0921 |
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Des McNulty on 15 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether charges are made for planning applications in respect of wind turbines for domestic dwellings in Scotland, but not in England and Wales and, if so, what these charges are and whether the same level of charges applies in each local authority area.
Answer
Fees to be levied in respectof planning applications are set out in the Town and Country Planning(Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2004
andare common to all local authorities in Scotland.
Paragraph 7(a) of table 2 of the 2004 regulations indicates that “the carrying out of operations, includingthe erection of a building, within the curtilage of an existing dwellinghouse,for purposes ancillary to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse” incurs a fee of£130. The interpretation of the regulations is, however, a matter for theplanning authority and ultimately the courts.
I understand that anappropriate fee is also charged in England and Wales for such a development.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 14 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what Transport Scotland’s annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis.
Answer
Transport Scotland hasan Agency Administration Budget of £14.4 million for 2006-07 financial year, thisbudget will finance the running costs of the new Executive agency. This budget isfor all costs associated with staff, building costs and other administration costs.
Consultant costs associated withindividual projects are allocated to each of these projects as per HM Treasury guidanceon costs associated with front line delivery of programmes.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any other instances where a European state owns, or commissions the building of, vessels subject to the 1992 Maritime Cabotage Regulations and state aid rules, as in the case of the CalMac network.
Answer
The research commissioned bythe Scottish Executive on ferry services in other European Union countries (seeResearch and Advice on Risk Management in Relation to the Subsidy of FerryServices – Deliverable 1: Factual Summary of EU Member States, published bythe Scottish Executive in 2005 – Bib. number 37557) suggested that there were threeother countries within the European Union, namely, Finland, Malta and Sweden, wherevessels delivering internal ferry services are owned by national or local governmentor publicly owned companies.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many rail vehicles (a) were delivered in 2006 and (b) are due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.
Answer
(a) There were no rail vehiclesdelivered for the ScotRail Franchise during 2006.
(b) A procurement plan is inprogress to deliver fleets of new rolling stock for a range of major projects andpassenger growth initiatives from 2009 onwards.
Bids have been received froma number of manufacturers to supply trams for Edinburgh in time for use in 2010.
At this time no decision hasbeen made on the eventual suppliers/manufacturers nor the final quantities required,but Transport Scotland will ensure that sufficient vehicles are in place tomeet the predicted capacity requirements.
The procurement process for heavyrail vehicles is being carried out with the co-operation of the franchise operator,First ScotRail, in consultation with Transport Scotland, commencing 2007.
Transport Initiatives Edinburgh(TIE) is responsible for the procurement of Edinburgh trams.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what total value of rolling stock (a) was delivered in each year since 1999 and (b) is due to be delivered in each year to 2012, broken down by manufacturer.
Answer
(a) The total value of the rollingstock is subject to the terms of contracts between the Franchisee and the RollingStock companies, and the values attributed to these in the Franchise agreement,are commercially confidential.
(b) A procurement plan is inprogress to deliver fleets of new rolling stock for a range of major projects andpassenger growth initiatives from 2009 onwards.
At this time the total valueof rolling stock provision in each year has not been fully determined, nor eventualsuppliers/manufacturers selected, but Transport Scotland will ensure that sufficientvehicles are in place to meet the predicted capacity requirements.
The procurement process willbe carried out with the co-operation of the franchise operator, First ScotRail,in consultation with Transport Scotland, commencing 2007.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 8 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken into the effectiveness of fuel additives in reducing emissions from vehicles and what evaluation it has made of such research.
Answer
The Scottish Executive hasnot undertaken any research into the effectiveness of fuel additives inreducing vehicle emissions.
We continue to work with theDepartment for Transport on the UK-wide Powering Future Vehicles strategy,which aims to promote new vehicle technologies and fuels - technology whichcould lead to significant reductions in vehicle emissions.
